This essay addresses two important problems with mainstream economics that reduce its usefulness for people of religious faith: its eclipse of the causal forces operating within the ‘black box’ of the market, and its empiricist methodological underpinnings. Yet neither of these problems...

Many economists who are religious find ways to interact with each other through associations, journals, and institutes. Often, these organizations encourage participants to explore potential connections between their faith and their profession. The networks are, however, somewhat hidden to the...

Professional economics would benefit from an infusion of religious formulations, particularly the notions that all humans are made in God’s image and are fallen creatures. This infusion would lead economics to more openly recognize the role of moral reflection in economic thinking and enhance...

What might religion do to improve our understanding of economics and human behavior? Here I contrast the mainstream economics view of choice and behavior with the religious view. In the mainstream economics view, human beings are rational calculating maximizers of utility. In the religious view,...

Social capital increases efficiency by reducing transaction costs, creating new forms of information exchange and by inducing change in individual attitudes. How Royal Society of London, the Media and the Private Prosecution Societies functioned in the 17th and 18th century Britain display...

In Catholic theology, sin is a rebellion against God and against our created nature. It is an alienation of the person from his own nature whose symptoms are rebellious passions and weakened reason. This alienation is not addressed by most economic analyses of choice, even analyses that address...

The knowledge (if any) afforded by Religion comes by the practice of faith, hope, and charity. It is direct, experiential knowledge of God. The knowledge (if any) afforded by Science comes by the method of ‘conjectures and refutations’ applied to our observations of Nature. Improved theory...

The key assumption of economic anthropology—maximizing behavior by the individual (or Max U)—has been subject to criticism both from outside and within economics. This article suggests that the philosophical or theological approach known as “personalism” may be useful in generating an...

An article about the use of the methodology of general systems theory and the theory of self-organization as a methodological basis of scientific interpretation of social reality. The author analyzes the role of ideology and propaganda in the different concepts of interpretation of social...

The general stream of economic thinking is thoroughly a-physical and a-historic. This direction is becoming increasingly absurd as the nexus between the human biomass and its ecological constraints ripens. Economics will eventually have to absorb apodictically that regardless of...